PCI - done!

                                    

It was a very exciting day when we got to do our PCI - I can finally picture us living in this big beautiful house and I cannot wait! 

The PCI took us about 2 and 1/2 hours which was good.... didn't feel at all rushed and our site supervisor was great. I went through every room with my plans and checked  off  every light, power point and detail of each room. I made sure they were where they were meant to be and also that they were working and made a list. After we had checked everything we then went through the house with the site supervisor room to room and he marked each wall with tape if there were any paint chips, poor paintwork, unfinished window areas, dents etc. We also marked the chipped floor tiles that will be replaced. It was a tedious process but essential in making sure our home is just as we want it when we move in.
Our site supervisor Chris pointed out lots of little things that I wouldn't have even noticed so that too was very helpful. A number of complete walls will be repainted and there is lots and lots of touch up work to do in other places. 
There were only a few other things that need to be changed / replaced.

1. incorrect power/ USB points - for some reason they had put a power point USB in the laundry that was meant to be a double power point. In the rumpus room they also put an incorrect power point/USB
2. above our kitchen island there are three down lights and they have put two in that are warm white and one in that is cool white. We of course want them all the same and in cool white. 
3. There is no toilet roll holder in the ensuite 

Aside from the paintwork and cleaning (which there is lots of) there should not be too much work for them to do.

We are so thrilled with how it is all coming together. My son was in charge of photography so the pics are not that detailed.

 

 

My son and I were thrilled with the size of the bath in our bathroom. I can see much relaxing to be done in here after the move and there is a perfect ledge for my wine glass!

 

The main bathroom isn't enormous but it has enough space. The feature tiles will run along the front of the bath when they are installed after handover.

The ensuite on the other hand is enormous ... this photo only shows half of it - behind the door is a bath the same as in the main bathroom. Mum and Dad will have plenty of space

This is the main toilet. It's a small room but thankfully comes with a built in exhaust as it has no window. 

The linen closet below is fitted out with wire racking...... it's pretty ordinary and I am not sure how much weight the shelves will hold but we decided to go with it and then change it later if need be. 

I didn't however even want to contemplate the wire racking for the pantry and changed the shelves to melamine. I dearly would have loved the thick shelves that they have in the display home but the cost meant a compromise so melamine it is. I am pretty happy with how they have turned out and I think they will work much better in our pantry. I am so happy with the size of it.

 This is my new utensils drawer...... beside the oven so I have everything I need at hands reach without having to sit them in a container on the bench. My Dad is impressed he will know where everything belongs

The carpet looks ok. I am glad we paid for the more expensive underlay. It feels quite nice underfoot and I think given that it is only in a few rooms, that it will be serviceable.

 Laundry

The floor tiles are freezing cold and I am very glad I have some slippers for when we move in. After spending two hours with just socks on my feet  when we did the walk through, my feet were numb! The tiling looks great and I think it ties in nicely with the wall colour.

Dining room - Mum and I just love the big fixed windows

 You can see in the picture below the little pieces of masking tape stuck all over the place for touching up or changes.

 The kitchen is by far my favourite room in the house. I just love it and it has turned out exactly as I want it to,

It's getting real now. I have booked our opticom connection appointment, internet is organised, removalists, fridge and furniture delivery, friends to help out and I have found out the best place to order pizza from so that the night of the moving we can thank our friends with a pizza party in the new home.

Our landscapers are due to start the Monday after we move in so lets hope Sydney gets rid of her crappy weather this weekend. Move in date booked 24th July 2015! Eden Brae said a 26 week build and this will be 23.5 weeks so we are thrilled!

Counting down .... so much happening and PCI and handover dates are booked!

 So much has happened at the house in the last couple of weeks and I love it!

The kitchen has had the splash back put in and the rangehood went in a few days later. I love love love the splash back.... it is exactly what I wanted and worth every cent. I'm still disappointed I didn't get the thicker stone bench top but I can't change it now and hope that in time it doesn't even cross my mind.

 

Main Flooring - Our tiles in the bulk of the house have been completed and I am really happy with how they have turned out. I wanted a really neutral colour pattern throughout the house because over time I know we will get new furniture and I just wanted to be sure it would be effected by the house colours. Our tiles were from the standard selection.

 

 Exterior - The driveway has been formed up ready for laying. The downpipes have been painted and the moroka finish at the front has been done. Our moroka is surfmist to match our windows, garage door and front door

Screens -The supascreens have been installed on the two sets of alfresco doors, the standard screen to the laundry, fly screens to all the windows and  the supascreen to our front door. I am so glad I paid the extra $4000 for supascreen in the public areas. My mum and I argued over this because she didn't think it mattered but imagine if the beautiful alfresco stacker doors looked like the laundry door!!!!

We are in a BAL 19 rating area so not having a screen door on the front was not an option. I am glad I went with the standard option for the front wooden door as you really cannot see it now behind the screen. Flyscreens to all windows and doors is compulsory to meet our rating and I am glad it is not a cost we have to add on later.

 Alfresco

 laundry

 flyscreens

 main entry

Its looking very close to completion now. The cleaners have been in and cleaned the house. Carpet , garage door and driveway should be completed this week.

PCI- We have booked in for our PCI on July 10th and our handover date of July 24th. We are very excited and cannot believe it is finally going to be time to move in.
On the PCI daye we do a full inspection with our site supervisor and check any little bits and pieces that need to be fixed or altered prior to handover. I will be taking my plans with me that day and will make sure I have all the power points, down lights, additions or extras we asked for checked off my list. I'm sure my site supervisor will think I am a bit pedantic but I don't want to be chasing things up if it can be avoided.

Handover Day- we will have our handover on July 24th and on this day we have to do a site inspection and then head over to Eden Brae head office for final payment and to collect our keys. We are hoping to also have our appliances, water heater and air conditioning done that day also as we don't want to wait until the Monday. I have arranged to have my brother stay for the day at the house after the site inspection so that this can happen. It is not uncommon in new houses for these items to be stolen the night prior to handover so Eden Brae don't install them until the house is in our safe ownership.

Moving - there is so much to organise with the move. We live in an opticom estate so we have to get opticom to connect us to the fibre  ($300) which will give us free to air television and then we have to contact an internet providor to link us to the fibre network for internet and phones. We are quite limited in our network choices which is a shame. I have arranged for this to happen as soon as possible after handover because having a teenager in the house who has no internet would be pure torture for us all.

Fixtures and Paintwork

Good to see some more progress this week with the completion of the interior painting and the fixtures starting to go in.  It was good to chat with our site supervisor to find out when we are likely to be in, what to expect next and to see how it is all coming together. At this stage we are expecting a completion date of July 24 and a PCI on July 10th.

The door handles have gone in and I like how they look. They are standard throughout the house and are just a neutral feature.

 We have also seen the installation of the towel rails in the bathroom ( no idea why I changed the main bathroom one to a double and not the ensuite- whoops !) The soap dishes look ok and I haven't had hand towel rails put in because there wasn't an obvious space for them to go looking at plans so I decided I would add them in later as will I with the over head vanity cupboards.

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The paintwork looks fabulous and I am so so happy with the colours. The door frames, skirting and doors are a wonderful gloss white and the Taubmans Endure Winter Ice looks fabulous. The photos below were taken at the same time of day but the colour difference with the light is very different. I also took a family photo up against it and in the photo it looks crisp white with the natural outdoor light. I love that there is an obvious colour difference between the ceiling and the walls and given that we have white floor tiles that have a hint of a grey marble look in them I think it will tie in beautifully. Mum also really likes it which is great because she hates grey.

I am also very happy with the bulkhead above the kitchen cupboards.It just looks so much more finished and I won't have to worry about cleaning the tops of the cupboards. When the glass splash back and appliances go in I think it will be just perfect!

 

The next step is electrical work being completed, garage door, moroka to complete the front facade and then floor tiling I believe. We will be in the house in 5 weeks and I cannot wait!

Painting

This week saw the commencement of our painting. I know that this also means an expected handover time of about six weeks so it is very exciting. Estimated settlement date of 23rd July according to our site supervisor.
We also sold our existing house this week which is wonderful and we got a great price and the people are lovely. I know they will fit into our neighborhood and make our wonderful neighbours happy.

I absolutely love the cornices I have chosen for the main living areas..... they make a little statement of their own and with the high ceilings it looks great

Seeing the paintwork start is exciting. I have been really worried that the colour I chose for the walls "Winter Ice" might be too grey so I am looking forward to seeing how it looks .
Looking at the prep work the painters have done, I am hoping they take more care with the top layers. It just looks a bit sloppy to me. Fingers crossed when it is finished I don't notice too many faults. I have been told to look very closely at the paintwork as this is an area often done poorly.

Hiccup #6

 I may have had a sneaky peak at the house recently - and of course I discover our next hiccup. Our bathroom tiling is incorrect! We have a feature tile ordered for our shower niche and also foe the half tile strip along the front of the bath. In both bathrooms they have tiled this section in plain white tiles. So, they will now have to fix that.

 I couldn't resist sitting in the bath space. I was pleasantly surprised at how big it seemed. Won't be very deep but definitely a nice long bath.

They have corrected the problem they had with the windows and tiles not working together.
Lets hope when I do a site inspection next week that they are easily able to fix the tiling situation. We really don't want any delays with our house.

Tiling and a tank!

I am relieved that we always see progress when we go past the house. This week we saw the front porch tiling and alfresco area and also the installation of the water tank. I am so glad I made a last minute change to a slimline tank as even that is huge and takes up lots of space. Our backyard is only 6 meters deep so the round tank would have been a monstrous eye sore. I still think this one is ugly so will certainly be investing in a screen for it.

Brickwork and a benchtop

This weeks progress has been massive as they have completed our brickwork. We now have only the final payment to make on handover day so it feels like we may soon be in our new house. It's funny how you imagine it and then when it becomes reality things look a little different. Also, hindsight is a wonderful thing as you realise you should in fact have spent the money on the things you chose to scrimp on.

Our kitchen bench is also in and I love how my kitchen is coming together!

 

When i look at the front of the house I am disappointed at the dark whole of a doorway. Perhaps it is because I cannot read plans or because I didn't look closely enough but I imagined there was a pillar between the garage and the house and not a solid wall. This now makes the entryway look so dark. I am hoping when the render is done in Surfmist and the front door is painted Surfmist also that I like how it all looks. I am so glad I didn't go with a wood stained door as it would have looked so dark. We chose the Birmingham facade which was one of the two included options and I wish now I had spent the money on an alternative. I can't change it now, but I just hope it looks ok when it is all finished. 

Aside from that I just love everything I have seen so far in our house and I want it finished!